Frederick D. Sulcer
{{Multiple issues|
{{COI|date=November 2021}}
{{notability|Biography|date=June 2022}}
}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2016}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Frederick D. Sulcer
| honorific_suffix =
| image = Advertising executive Frederick D Sulcer circa 1970s.JPG
| image_size =
| caption =
| birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2004|01|18|1926|08|28}}
| nationality = American
| education = U. Chicago, BA, 1947
| alma_mater = U. Chicago, MBA, 1963
| occupation = Advertising
| years_active = 1953–2004
| employer = DDB Worldwide,
Benton & Bowles
| alias = Sandy Sulcer
| known_for = Put a Tiger in Your Tank
| spouse = Dorothy Wright (artist)
| partner =
| children = Ginna Sulcer Marston
| parents =
| relatives = Quinn Marston (grandson)}}
File:Comedian Jack Benny with advertising agent Frederick D Sulcer circa 1956.jpg in the 1950s.]]
File:Advertising people Paul Harper (left) and Frederick D. Sulcer.jpg
Frederick Durham Sulcer (August 28, 1926 – January 18, 2004), known as Sandy Sulcer, was an American advertising agency copywriter and executive who created the 1960s Put a Tiger in Your Tank advertising theme for Esso gasoline, now known as ExxonMobil and later as a rainmaker bringing in new clients.{{cite news|title=Frederick D. Sulcer profile|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/24/classified/paid-notice-deaths-sulcer-frederick-sandy.html?|newspaper=New York Times|date=January 24, 2004|accessdate=2012-01-01 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.exxonmobil.com/Corporate/history/about_who_history_alt.aspx|title=History|accessdate=2012-01-01|publisher=ExxonMobil}}{{cite news|author= Michael B. Goodman; Peter B. Hirsch|title=Corporate Communication: Strategic Adaptation for Global Practice|year=2010|publisher= Peter Lang Publishing|isbn=978-1-4331-0622-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CWeBPNtZ-rwC&q=%28%22sandy+sulcer%22+OR+%22frederick+sulcer%22+OR+%22frederick+d.+sulcer%22+OR+%22fred+sulcer%22%29&pg=PR17|accessdate=2011-10-03}}{{cite news|author=David Kaplan|title= Sulcer, 77, Former DDB Needham Exec, Dies|publisher=AllBusiness|url=http://www.allbusiness.com/marketing-advertising/4134172-1.html|accessdate=2011-10-03}}
Early years
Sulcer was born in Chicago in 1926 and grew up during the Great Depression. His father lost his Chicago-based advertising agency during the downturn. Sulcer had an egg delivery service and slept underneath the dining room table to allow his parents to rent out his bedroom for much–needed funds. He attended the University of Chicago on a scholarship and edited the student newspaper The Chicago Maroon and graduated in 1947.{{cite news
|title= Deaths
|publisher= University of Chicago Magazine
|year= 2004
|url= http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0404/alumni/deaths.shtml
|accessdate= 2011-10-03
}} He was an amateur actor in the Quadrangle Players theater group. He was drafted and fought in the Korean War{{cite news
|title= With AMERICA'S FIGHTERS
|newspaper= Chicago Tribune
|date= February 25, 1951
|url= https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/503487302.html?dids=503487302:503487302&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Feb+25%2C+1951&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=With+AMERICA%27S+FIGHTERS&pqatl=google
|archive-url= https://archive.today/20130131135843/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/503487302.html?dids=503487302:503487302&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Feb+25,+1951&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=With+AMERICA'S+FIGHTERS&pqatl=google
|url-status= dead
|archive-date= January 31, 2013
|accessdate= 2011-10-03
}} and was promoted to captain in the United States Army Corps of Engineers. After returning from Korea, he married an artist for the Chicago Tribune named Dorothy Wright. He attended night school at the University of Chicago Business School and earned an MBA degree in 1963.
Career
Sulcer began his career in late 1940s at Needham Louis & Brorby in Chicago, which later became Needham Harper & Steers, as an advertising copywriter.{{cite news
|author= MARYON ZYLSTRA
|title= The Inquiring Camera Girl
|newspaper= Chicago Tribune
|date= February 4, 1958
|url= https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/518891952.html?dids=518891952:518891952&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Feb+04%2C+1958&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=The+Inquiring+Camera+Girl&pqatl=google
|archive-url= https://archive.today/20130131173902/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/518891952.html?dids=518891952:518891952&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Feb+04,+1958&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=The+Inquiring+Camera+Girl&pqatl=google
|url-status= dead
|archive-date= January 31, 2013
|accessdate= 2011-10-03
|author= CARL SPIELVOGEL
|title= Advertising: Newspapers in Selling Drive
|newspaper= The New York Times
|date= April 24, 1958
|url= http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40E13FB355D1A7B93C6AB178FD85F4C8585F9
|accessdate= 2011-10-03
|title= ADVERTISING NOTES
|newspaper= Chicago Tribune
|date= April 24, 1958
|url= https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/519310772.html?dids=519310772:519310772&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Apr+24%2C+1958&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=ADVERTISING+NOTES&pqatl=google
|archive-url= https://archive.today/20130131143305/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/519310772.html?dids=519310772:519310772&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Apr+24,+1958&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=ADVERTISING+NOTES&pqatl=google
|url-status= dead
|archive-date= January 31, 2013
|accessdate= 2011-10-03
}} He wrote jingles for Household Finance Corporation including Never borrow money needlessly, but when you must, trust HFC. He became a creative director. He was promoted to account executive in 1961.{{cite news
|author= ROBERT ALDEN
|title= Advertising: TV Specials Are Found to Be Big Sellers
|newspaper= The New York Times
|date= February 16, 1961
|url= http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70F10F63558147A93C4A81789D85F458685F9
|accessdate= 2011-10-03
}}
To pitch Oklahoma gasoline (which became "Esso", then "Exxon", then "ExxonMobil"), he collaborated with psychologist Ernest Dichter and learned from research that drivers wanted both power and play for their automobiles. The pair, working with other agency creative people, selected the tiger as a visual symbol to express this desire. The agency borrowed a live tiger from the zoo which remained behind a large curtain while they presented the campaign idea to gasoline executives; at the end of the presentation, they opened the curtain to reveal the tiger. They won the account with the theme Put a Tiger in Your Tank.{{cite news
|author= Kaplan, David
|title= Sulcer, 77, Former DDB Needham Exec, Dies. (Frederick D. Sulcer) (Obituary)
|publisher= ADWEEK Eastern Edition
|date= January 23, 2004
|url= http://business.highbeam.com/436953/article-1G1-112766289/sulcer-77-former-ddb-needham-exec-dies
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150914155910/http://business.highbeam.com/436953/article-1G1-112766289/sulcer-77-former-ddb-needham-exec-dies
|url-status= dead
|archive-date= September 14, 2015
|accessdate= 2011-10-03
}}
Sulcer became assistant to the agency president Paul Harper.{{cite news
|author= LEONARD SLOANE
|title= Advertising: Two Unseen but Heard on TV
|newspaper= The New York Times
|date= July 9, 1965
|url= http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0E10FB3D5A157A93CBA9178CD85F418685F9
|accessdate= 2011-10-03
}}
Sulcer moved to Bronxville, New York in 1966 and managed the agency's New York City office. He helped persuade clients to support public service initiatives including a seat-belt public service campaign called Buckle Up for Safety as well as a traffic safety campaign entitled Watch Out for the Other Guy{{cite news
|title= Twelve Big Ideas – The Advertising Council's Traffic Safety Campaign: "Watch Out For The Other Guy"
|publisher= WARC
|year= 1966
|url= http://www.warc.com/Pages/Taxonomy/Results.aspx?q=&Area=Articles&Page=3&Tab=&DVals=&SourceOR=&DRange=&Filter=All&SubjectRef=1209&qr=
|accessdate= 2011-10-03
}} for the Advertising Council.{{cite news
|author= JAMES SMITH
|title= Agency Men Will Meet Tomorrow
|newspaper= Chicago Tribune
|date= October 12, 1966
|url= https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/587052472.html?dids=587052472:587052472&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Oct+12%2C+1966&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=ADVERTISING%2FMARKETING&pqatl=google
|accessdate= 2011-10-03
|archive-date= March 19, 2013
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130319121117/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/587052472.html?dids=587052472:587052472&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Oct+12%2C+1966&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=ADVERTISING%2FMARKETING&pqatl=google
|url-status= dead
}} Sulcer described the other guy theme and how it tried to improve awareness that other drivers were usually "nice, well-meaning people":
{{blockquote|The other guy is not always the lane-hugging, road-burning, tire-squealing menace.|Sandy Sulcer, 1966, in The New York Times{{cite news
|author= WALTER CARLSON
|title= Advertising: 'Watch Out for the Other Guy'
|newspaper= The New York Times
|date= July 11, 1966
|url= http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50D12F83559117B93C3A8178CD85F428685F9
|accessdate= 2011-10-03
}}}}
Sulcer helped persuade the Xerox corporation to support a TV series entitled Of Black America which was later recognized by then-president Gerald Ford as a positive effort to bring awareness to minority issues. The agency used data from a longitudinal survey of 3,000 consumers nationwide to help clients understand marketing issues{{cite news
|author= Timothy Mullaney
|title= Economic fears aren't crinkling Christmas lists 'Holiday optimism' evident in survey
|newspaper= Baltimore Sun
|date= November 27, 1991
|url= https://www.baltimoresun.com/1991/11/27/economic-fears-arent-crinkling-christmas-lists-holiday-optimism-evident-in-survey/
|access-date= 2011-10-03
}} as well as help interpret election results and political leanings.{{cite news
|author= Philip H. Dougherty
|author-link= Philip H. Dougherty
|title= Voting for Humor
|newspaper= The New York Times
|date= September 14, 1972
|url= http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00F1FF63854127B93C6A81782D85F468785F9
|accessdate= 2011-10-03
}} He held executive positions at Needham, Harper & Steers{{cite news
|author= Philip H. Dougherty
|author-link= Philip H. Dougherty
|title= A advertising: In Search of Flavor; Executive Switches at Needham
|newspaper= The New York Times
|date= May 13, 1974
|url= http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50614F7385B1A7493C1A8178ED85F408785F9
|accessdate= 2011-10-03
}} (now owned by Omnicom) including president of the New York Division,{{cite news
|author= Philip H. Dougherty
|author-link= Philip H. Dougherty
|title= A Madison Ave. Hive Like Others: Humming; Advertising: Madison Ave. Hive Like Others -It Hums
|newspaper= The New York Times
|date= November 16, 1969
|url= http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70611FA345D13728DDDAF0994D9415B898AF1D3
|accessdate= 2011-10-03
|author= Philip H. Dougherty
|author-link= Philip H. Dougherty
|title= Agency Maps Attacks to Win New Clients
|newspaper= The New York Times
|date= August 4, 1968
|url= http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0C10FA3E5C1A7B93C6A91783D85F4C8685F9
|accessdate= 2011-10-03
}} vice chairman of its international operations, and director of business development for the agency. He spoke publicly about the advertising business to professional associations.{{cite news
|title= Needham Head Praises Other Agencies' Efforts
|newspaper= The New York Times
|year= 1978
|url= http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0D13FB3F58157493C5AB1789D85F418785F9
|accessdate= 2011-10-03
}} Working with chairman Paul C. Harper, Jr., he helped the agency develop a reputation as a "hot creative shop" after it won awards for advertising during the late 1960s and early 1970s.{{cite news
|author= Philip H. Dougherty
|author-link= Philip H. Dougherty
|title= Advertising; Needham Is Stressing Creativity
|newspaper= The New York Times
|date= June 12, 1975
|url= http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10E13FC385D137B93C0A8178DD85F418785F9
|accessdate= 2011-10-03
}} He was known for being a capable rainmaker who helped agencies pitch new business.{{cite news
|author= Griggs, Robyn
|title= Sulcer merges new business with old. (Frederick D. Sulcer)
|publisher= ADWEEK Western Edition
|date= April 9, 1990
|url= http://business.highbeam.com/436952/article-1G1-8923713/sulcer-merges-new-business-old
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150914155915/http://business.highbeam.com/436952/article-1G1-8923713/sulcer-merges-new-business-old
|url-status= dead
|archive-date= September 14, 2015
|accessdate= 2011-10-03
}}
In 1978, he became director of new business development for DMB&B{{cite news
|author=Philip H. Dougherty
|author-link=Philip H. Dougherty
|title= Advertising; Winter Winds of Change
|newspaper= The New York Times
|date= December 12, 1977
|url= http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0E17F73E551B7493C0A81789D95F438785F9
|accessdate= 2011-10-03
}} (now part of Publicis) and pitched numerous accounts.{{cite news
|author= Philip H. Dougherty
|author-link= Philip H. Dougherty
|title= Advertising; People
|newspaper= The New York Times
|date= November 22, 1985
|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1985/11/22/business/advertising-people.html
|accessdate= 2011-10-03
}} In 1990, he moved back to his previous agency, now called DDB Needham Worldwide to head up new business development,{{cite news
|author= Randall Rothenberg
|title= THE MEDIA BUSINESS: Advertising; New Position At Needham
|newspaper= The New York Times
|date= March 30, 1990
|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/30/business/the-media-business-advertising-new-position-at-needham.html
|accessdate= 2011-10-03
}} for clients such as Anheuser-Busch.{{cite news
|title= Survey
|newspaper= Gainesville Sun
|date= February 21, 1991
|url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=mUlWAAAAIBAJ&pg=6712,6469502&dq=sandy-sulcer+%7c+frederick-sulcer+%7c+frederick-d-sulcer+%7c+fred-sulcer&hl=en
|accessdate= 2011-10-03
}} He retired from the agency business in 1994.{{cite news
|author= DDB Worldwide staff
|title= Paid Notice: Deaths SULCER, FREDERICK D. SANDY
|newspaper= The New York Times
|date= January 25, 2004
|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/25/classified/paid-notice-deaths-sulcer-frederick-d-sandy.html
|accessdate= 2011-10-03
}}
Sulcer continued to teach and write about advertising in his later years. At Fairleigh Dickinson University, he led along with Cleve Langton and Michael Goodman the Schering-Plough executive lecture series entitled While You Were Looking The Other Way.{{cite news
|title= In Memoriam
|publisher= Fairleigh Dickinson University
|date= January 2004
|url= http://inside.fdu.edu/pt2/otw0402/facultystaff.html
|accessdate= 2011-10-03
}} The lecture series described annual changes in the marketing environment during the previous year which suggested cultural shifts and used marketing research to spot emerging trends.{{cite news
|author= Michael B. Goodman (author & editor)
|title= Corporate Communications for Executives
|publisher= State University of New York Press, Albany
|year= 1998
|isbn= 0-7914-3761-2
|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=8ZBruNiEoz4C&q=%28%22sandy+sulcer%22+OR+%22frederick+sulcer%22+OR+%22frederick+d.+sulcer%22+OR+%22fred+sulcer%22%29&pg=PA99
|accessdate= 2011-10-03